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	Suit against Cardinal Francis George: Chicago Archdiocese Accused of Bias against African-american Victims of Sex Abuse By Manya A. Brachear Chicago Tribune December 11, 2009 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-archdiocese-lawsuit-11-dec11,0,5935205.story Church officials tried to silence black victims' claims and proposed smaller settlements than those offered to white victims, suit says A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago alleging that church officials discriminated against African-American victims of sexual abuse by trying to silence their claims and proposing smaller settlements than those offered to white victims. The suit, filed Thursday in the Northern District of Illinois by Seattle attorney Phillip Aaron on behalf of 41 men and eight women, seeks $98 million, accusing the archdiocese, Cardinal Francis George and retired Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Goedert of racial discrimination, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, fraud, conspiracy and racketeering. "The defendants have acted intentionally to silence the voices of African-American and minority victims while defendants distributed false and deceptive information to the public in an attempt to prevent the victims of clergy sexual abuse, their families and the African-American and minority community from expressing and exposing racism and discrimination," the suit says. The suit points to a deposition by Goedert released by the archdiocese in July. In the deposition, the archdiocese's second-highest-ranking bishop testified that he believed church law required him to keep clergy sex-abuse confidential, even when most of the priests he confronted admitted abusing minors. In addition to alleging the archdiocese conspired with the mediator in settlement proceedings, the suit alleges that the archdiocese plotted with Chicago law firm Pugh, Jones, Johnson & Quandt, which found in an audit last month that the average settlement for African-American victims is more than 28 percent higher than settlements with white victims and 19 percent higher than the average of all settlements. "The report commissioned by the defendants ... is a sham and intended to deceive the public" the suit says. Colleen Dolan, communications director for the archdiocese, said the church stands by the audit's findings. The results "proved quite the opposite of what Mr. Aaron has stated in his suit," she said. "It's factually not correct." Contact: mbrachear@tribune.com
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